by end H 154-5: Drained
lands, in effect returned to fen. Authorities humiliated.

WW 207:‘A little before
Edgehill’ commoners of East, West and Wildmore Fens near Boston demolished the
adventurers’ works after the latter had been in possession for 7 years.

SummerH 146-7: Allegiances fragmented in Lincolnshire.

JunH155: Reversal of fen drainage spread to Axholme
and the Marsh.

IB :Lord Willoughby
(P) took the view of arms at Lincoln.

6BCW:Parliament declared the Earl of Lindsey a
public enemy of the state, for supporting the King.

6G 1:Willoughby
of Parham attempted to raise the county militia at Lincoln for Parliament with but weak support.

7G 1:Willoughby of Parham attempted to raise the
county militia at Caistor for Parliament but met opposition.

8G 1:Willoughby of Parham attempted to raise the
county militia at Louth for Parliament but organization was poor.

10G 1:Willoughby
of Parham attempted to raise the county militia at Boston for Parliament and found 100
well-armed and trained volunteers.

19PT 81:Lincolnshire expressed
loyalty to the king. Lord Willoughby of Parham expressed the intention of the
county to protect His Majesty’s person, and to preserve the privileges of
Parliament, also to oppose any who would separate king form parliament.

22FNQ 760:Report of Royalist force rounding up
Parliamentarian raiders near Sleaford but the year is probably mistaken. In reality, 1643.

Jul6W1:Parliament
passed: Ordinance for raising 2,000 men for relieving Hull.

Aug1BCW:The earl of Lindsey appointed
Lieutenant-General of the King’s army.

16BCW:The King secured the arms and ammunition
of the Lincoln
train bands.

22H
159: The king raised his standard at Nottingham. T. Lister (P) arrested at Colby Hall (grid ref. SK973609) by
the king’s orders.

24G 12:Royalists
had news of the capture by Newarkers (R), of a train of 80 pack horses loaded
with ammunition intended for Manchester (P) at Boston.

25IB :The King’s standard raised at Nottingham.

soon
after 25IB :Royalist
officers raided Coleby Hall to arrest its occupants.
Gainsborough raised a force to protect its neutrality. Grantham checked its
weapons. A Royalist ship failed to land arms at Skegness. Parliament ordered
the raising of forces in Lincs. Cressy Hall was
garrisoned for the King by sheriff, Sir Edward Heron but he was taken prisoner
in a skirmish.

SepPT 83:Sir Edward Heron,
High Sherriff of Lincs captured and taken via Boston
and the sea, to London.
He was tried and imprisoned for treachery having tried to get ammunition to his
house to defend it.

PT 81:Lincolnshire joined the Eastern Association.

EarlyG 12:Boston’s
defences consisted only of canon on the approach roads.

15SR 82:A
Parliamentary Ordinance set up the Midland Association, incorporating the
shires of Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Northampton, Buckingham, Bedford
and Huntingdon; and Rutland.
Forces levied from it to be commanded by Lord Grey of Groby.

20SR 82:Parliamentary
Ordinance set up the Eastern Association, initially incorporating Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk,
Cambridgeshire and Herefordshire [sic].
Forces levied from it to be commanded by Lord Grey of Groby.

13G 6:Report
to Boston councillors that London
had loaned it 16 canon of which 6 were in Lincoln, to protect it
from Royalist raids.To avoid relying on
loans from others, the Corporation voted to do without its mayor-making banquet
and buy 2 of these canon as its own.

14PT 84: Boston
Corporation procured the loan of 16 canon from London. Six went to Lincoln.

midstSG
333-5:Crowland garrisoned for the
king. Parliamentarian troops entered Peterborough
(16 possibly 17 April)en route there:
infantry commanded by Col. Hubbart. Two days later,
horse under Col. Cromwell arrived. The latter (apparently 19 April) began
destruction of organs and common prayer books. The Bible had its Apocrypha torn
out. The seating of the choir was destroyed. This done, the
set about destroying the tombs and the glass of church and cloister. In
the chapter house they destroyed the cathedral’s records.

18SG 92:Cromwell’s
troops arrived in Peterborough.

about
21SG 92:Cromwell injured
in a riding accident in Peterborough Cathedral close; incapacitated for a
fortnight.

13SR 84-5:Cavendish via
Gainsborough and Henderson, direct from Newark,
made a surprise attack on Grantham, destroying three of Willoughby’s troops in camp at Belton. There,
the Lincolnshire
troops (P) stood by and allowed Cromwell’s horse to attack the Royalists alone.
The Royalists withdrew and the Parliamentarians fell back on Lincoln.

middleG
7:Having taken Crowland, troops
(P) were quartered around Sleaford. They then moved on to subdue Royalist raids
from Gainsborough into Lindsey.

24SR 85:Rendezvous
of Parliamentarian commanders at Nottingham with a view to moving north to
support Fairfax..

27PT 84:Letter
from WilliamBridge,
a minister, says there were 6,000 or 7,000 parliamentarian troops at Lincoln. Also, the
discipline of troops was very good. Boston
gave much material support.

lateH 167:With
Cromwell and Hotham at Newark, Lincolnshire was but lightly garrisoned (P).

by the endSR 54:Lord
Grey of Groby had assembled 5,000 – 6,000 troops (P)
in the Nottingham Area.

10W1 :Parliament
passed: Ordinance for securing the town of Lynn
and the adjacent country in case the Popish Northern Army should force a
passage through Lincolnshire into Norfolk..

10W1 :Parliament
passed: Ordinance for the indemnity of the Mayor of Hull and others for seizing
the forts, and the persons of Sir John Hotham and Sir Edward Rhodes, and
Captain Hotham.

11SR 54:Rupert
and the Queen met at Stratford on Avon.

12W1 :Parliament
passed: Order for raising forces in the Parts of Holland in the County of Lincoln.

13SG 334:Captains
Barton and Hope from Notts and Derbys
respectively, raided the vestry in Peterborough Cathedral. The stone screen
behind the communion table was pulled down and a painting of Christ on the
ceiling shot at. Daniel Wood, of Capt. Roper’s company was present.

midSR 86:Newarkers
(R) sallied forth and recaptured Stamford
while the local Parliamentarian leaders were in disarray over the Hothams’ default. Newarkers went on to unsuccessfully
attack Peterborough.

27IB :Cromwell
(P) and Meldrum (P) from Nottingham united at North Scarle
and relieved Gainsborough. Cavendish (P) was killed.

soon
after 27IB :Newcastle (R)
crossed the Trent
at Morton and forced the Cromwell and Meldrum away from Gainsborough. They
retired to Lincoln.

28SR 86:Leaving
North Scarle at 2 a.m., with 1,200 mounted
men, Meldrum set off for Gainsborough. There were three or four troops of
dragoons, then Ayscoughe’s eight troops of Lincolns. Meldrum,
himself had three troops from Nottingham and two more from Northampton. In the rear came Cromwell with
six or seven troops of Eastern Association horse.

28SR 86-89:Description of the Battle
of Gainsborough.

28BCW:Cromwell and Meldrum defeated Cavendish at
Gainsborough but withdrew on the approach of Newcastle’s main army.

PT 85:Lord Willoughby of Parham had his
headquarters in Boston.
400 muskets were sent to Cromwell who was to have particular care for Boston.

SR 89:The Earl of
Newcastle was reluctant to move far out of his northern area of command. He
therefore did not go to the King at Oxford but
the latter was willing to countenance an advance ‘over the Washes into Norfolk and Suffolk,
and the associated counties’. However, Parliamentarian activity in Yorkshire drew him back there.

AugduringIB :Parliamentarian
forces in Lincs pulled back in disarray, to Boston, thence to the Eastern Counties.

duringIB : Not wishing to advance into the
Eastern Counties leaving Hull in his rear, Newcastle (R) neglected Boston and
besieged Hull.

5SR 89:Willoughby, having retired from Gainsborough to Lincoln, moved almost at once, on to Boston. Newcastle was free to move south but
was reluctant to leave his military territory north of the Humber so he sent
General King into Lincolnshire, then changed his mind an followed him. In his
absence, the Fairfaxes
sallied out from Hull and raided StamfordBridge. Newcastle
returned to Yorkshire, appointing William Waddrington
commander of Royalist forces in Lincolnshire.

6G 7-10:Willoughby
of Parham at Boston,
complaining but drawing attention to the strategic importance of that port and
town.

8G 10:Newcastle’s Army near
Swineshead.

8PT 85:Willoughby (P), having found the circuit of Lincoln too long to be held by his limited force, retired
to Boston as a
more supportive and defensible place.

8SR 90:The
Eastern Association was originally primarily an organization for raising
supplies and men for Parliament’sarmy.
The scare caused by Royalists’ success in Lincolnshire
led to an extension of its remit. Manchester (P) was placed in charge of its
forces.

10G 13:Manchester appointed
commander of the Eastern Association army with Cromwell as lieutenant-general
of horse.

10BCW:The Earl of Manchester made commander of
the Eastern Association’s army and ordered to stop Newcastle’s
(R) advance from the north towards London.

midBCW:Lestrange at King’s Lynn refused to pay Parliament’s tax assessment
and declared for the King.

25SR 90:Fairfax
(P) forced by Newcastle’s (R) arrival for the
siege of Hull, to evacuate Beverly
and fall back on Hull.
He had been billeted there since Hull
itself was too small to accommodate all the troops.

28BCW:Fairfax (P) left Beverley as Newcastle (R)
moved to lay siege to Hull.

29PT 86:Manchester’s troops at Norwich
and Cromwell’s around Boston and Peterborough. Eastern
Association had 8,000 horse and foot with more in prospect after the harvest.

to end
of year PT 85:Boston was
the headquarters of Manchester’s
and Cromwell’s troops.

during
the siege of Lynn SR 91:Willoughby (P) and Cromwell (P) commanded a
covering force based at Boston.

Sep1SR 90:(
a week after 25th August) Newcastle (R) began his siege of Hull.

18G 13:Transfer
of Fairfax’s horse from besieged Hull to Lincolnshire begun
under the protection of Cromwell and Willoughby
on the Lincolnshire
shore, some landed at Saltfleet.

19-26G 13:Parliament had naval supremacy in the Humber.

20W1 :Parliament
passed: Ordinance adding Lincoln
to the counties of the Eastern Association, and for the maintenance of the Army
of those counties, with the names of the members of the Committees of the
various counties.

22G 21:King,
having antagonized everyone, was finally replaced as Governor of Boston. The
new man was Thomas Hatcher, of Careby.

2BCW:The centre of English events was by now in Cornwall.Reinforcements went there from southern England and the
Earl of Manchester was ordered to march south to fill the vacuum.

3H :Earl of Manchester
left Lincoln.

4PR x:Earl of Manchester left Lincoln.

5G 21:Earl of Manchester cleared from Lincolnshire. Almost at once, the Newarkers
broke out and attacked Torksey. Louth, Sleaford and Stamford were raided from Belvoir. Crowland
was re-taken and refugees flowed into Boston.

6PR
209: A soldier of the Earl of
Manchester’s Regiment buried.

8PR
x: Earl of Manchester had reached Huntingdon.

8BCW:Friction between Cromwell (P) and both
Crawford (P) and Manchester
(P).

midH 174:Rossiter (P) was building fortifications at Sleaford but
was forced to withdraw to Lincoln.

SLHI :Winifred Browne petitioned Parliament
saying that the Royalists had taken all she had.

9G 24:Following
the Self Denying Ordinance and the establishment of the New Model Army, Rossiter formally took military control in Lincolnshire. Lieutenant Colonel Browne
became Governor of Lincoln and Edmund Syler, Governor
of Boston.

Jan22W1 :Parliament passed: Act for the
Committee of the County
of Lincoln to lay an
assessment of £2,500 for the relief of the Forces before Pontefract.

May29W1 :Parliament passed: Act for draining the Great Level of the
Fens extending itself into the counties of Northampton, Norfolk, Suffolk,
Lincoln, Cambridge, and Huntingdon, and the Isle of Ely, or some of them.

Dec10W1 :Parliament passed: Act constituting an High Court of Justice
within the Counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Lincoln, the
counties of the cities of Norwich and Lincoln and within the Isle of Ely.

RJP:In 2011, a segment of an oak beam
was put on display in BourneAbbeyChurch.
It has the date 1656 carved into it and its moulding appears consistent with
this. It looks as though it was part of the gallery, which was removed in about
1870. This would give a tentative date for its erection at about the middle of
Oliver Cromwell’s period as Lord Protector. (BCW)